<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>...I Promise by perplexed_kale</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30140145">...I Promise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/perplexed_kale/pseuds/perplexed_kale'>perplexed_kale</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Break Up, Broken Promises, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is Bad at Feelings, Crying, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loneliness, M/M, Post-Break Up, Promises, Swearing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:46:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>684</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30140145</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/perplexed_kale/pseuds/perplexed_kale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Roman, are you alright?”<br/>It caught him off-guard, to say the least. Roman paused, looking like a deer-in-headlights, before recovering and muttering out a quick, “I’m fine.”<br/>It was the answer he always gave, because no one would see through it. No one wanted to. And if no one saw through it, no one could call him out on his little lie.<br/>Until now.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>...I Promise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Regarding the tags, I tagged it as both implied/referenced character death and break-up because I left it up to interpretation. I, in all honesty, don't have a clear idea on which it is, so I tagged both just to be safe.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a night like any other.<br/>A Saturday night, specifically, so it was Movie Night.<br/>Roman’s apartment was the venue for his and Janus’s Saturday night special of snacks and Disney movies. And Disney meant a whole range of things. Off-key sing-alongs, clumsy slow dances, and scenes ranging from action and excitement to sadness and serenity.<br/>(Roman had been banned from reenacting action scenes after he threw a hand-held mirror “sword” across the room on accident).<br/>Occasionally, the two would turn away from Disney and watch movies of other genres.<br/>Horror movies meant startling at jumpstart, paired with a lot of screaming at the stupidity of the idiots on screen. It was mostly Janus who was doing the screaming. Roman just laughed at him.<br/>(“Why the hell would you walk INTO the murder house? You’re dumbasses! All of you!”<br/>“Jan, calm dow-”<br/>“Not while they’re being fucking imbeciles!”)<br/>Romance movies were mostly Janus cringing at, again, the stupidity of some of the fools who called themselves characters. Roman, however, thought the love and dramatics said characters possessed was endearing.<br/>(“Hun, why are you settling for this bland-ass man you met two days ago? You could get yourself one hunk of a husband, yet you’re settling for the human equivalent of a piece of wheat toast.”<br/>“It’s love at first sight! …Plus, I like wheat toast.”<br/>“Alright, but you have to agree with me that this dude is more boring than an office full of middle-aged men.”<br/>“…True.” )<br/>Comedies were relaxed, quiet, calm. Odd considering how the movies were, but that’s how they spent it. It was their cooldown genre, a way to ride out the adrenaline high of action movies or the sadness of classics.<br/>It had been a night like any other when Janus asked the question.<br/>They were watching some comedy Roman can’t remember the name of, sat on opposite sides of the coach.<br/>The two men were silently cringing at the bad attempt at a romance arch between two characters when Janus spoke through the silence.<br/>“Roman, are you alright?”<br/>It caught him off-guard, to say the least. Roman paused, looking like a deer-in-headlights, before recovering and muttering out a quick, “I’m fine.”<br/>It was the answer he always gave, because no one would see through it. No one wanted to. And if no one saw through it, no one could call him out on his little lie.<br/>Until now.<br/>“You’re lying. ”<br/>The short silence which followed Roman’s nervous response had felt endless, until those two words shattered it. And the mask Roman had hand-crafted and worn for years shattered along with it.<br/>Silent tears feel from Roman’s eyes, rotting his shirt with dark spots across the white canvas.<br/>“You aren’t. You haven’t been for months. Hell, you haven’t been for years.”<br/>Silence filled the room as more tears fell from Roman’s eyes.<br/>“You haven’t been fine, and I didn’t see it. And for that, I am sorry.”<br/>More tears.<br/>“But I want to help you get better, if you’ll let me. ”<br/>A pause. A strained, silent pause as Janus hoped he would get the answer he wanted.<br/>As Roman considered the repercussions of saying the truth.<br/>“You’re right.”<br/>After a minute that felt more like an eternity, Roman answered.<br/>And he said the truth.<br/>“I’m not fine.”<br/>Janus took the chance to close the gap that had been between them, pulling Roman into his embrace and rubbing soothing circles on the sobbing man’s back.<br/>“I want to be fine, but I’m not. I’m not fine, and I don’t know what to do about it.”<br/>“Than me and you will figure it out, so you can be fine. I won’t stop until that’s true. ”<br/>“You promise? ”<br/>“I promise.”</p>
<p>Now, Roman sat alone in his apartment, face to face with the empty spot where Janus should be sitting.<br/>Face to face with the shattered reassurances and crumbled dreams.<br/>Face to face with his own loneliness.<br/>And he cried. Silent tears rolling down his face as he whispered two words out to the darkness.<br/>“You promised.”<br/>But not all promises last.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Feel free to check me out on Tumblr (perplexed-kale) and Instagram (perplexed_kale) for more. Thank you!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>